Wednesday, December 1, 2021 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
9
Drought-stressed trees scorched
By Bradley W. Parks
Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB)
PHOTO BY DOUGLAS BEALL
A Mt. Jefferson ponderosa takeoff of the Mountain Bluebird.
Sisters Country birds
By Douglas Beall
Correspondent
The Mountain Bluebird
[Sialia currucoides] seeks
out open areas with a mix
of grasses, shrubs and trees,
in mountainous areas up
to 12,500 feet. Clearcuts,
meadows, and sagebrush/
juniper habitat provide large
insect populations for the
feeding of fledglings. They
require tree cavities or nest
boxes for brooding.
The female chooses her
mate by the quality of the
nest cavity that the male
offers. She builds the nest as
the male Mountain Bluebird
brings insects to her while
she brings the grasses and
stems to line the nest. A
13-day incubation period of
four to eight pale blue eggs
period commences in May
and June, and they often
have a second brood.
The young fledge in
17-22 days and will often
remain as a family unit for
the summer. Their bright
azure blue feathers can be
seen on fence posts and tele-
phone lines as they catch
insects in the air, often hov-
ering before dropping down
to the ground. Berries from
wild currant, elderberry,
sumac, and mistletoe are a
portion of their diet in the
fall. Average lifespan is four
to six years. They migrate
south in September and
early October.
They are in the thrush
family and in groups are
referred to as a <mutation=
or a <hermitage= of thrushes.
For more Mountain Bluebird
photos visit http://abirds-
ingsbecauseithasasong.com/
recent-journeys.
BEND (AP) 4 This sum-
mer9s heat scorched Oregon
trees 4 maybe worse than
ever before 4 and scien-
tists are beginning to piece
together what that means for
the trees9 long-term health.
Reports of fading foli-
age and crispy conifers
started coming within days
of a June heat wave, during
which many parts of the state
endured consecutive days
with temperatures higher than
110º Fahrenheit.
Aerial surveys from the
U.S. Forest Service, Oregon
Department of Forestry and
Washington Department of
Natural Resources docu-
mented tree scorching on
about 229,000 acres (92,673
hectares) in Oregon, OPB
reported. That9s likely an
undercount, given the meth-
od9s limitations.
<By some estimates, it9s
probably the largest scorch
event in history,99 Oregon
State University researcher
Christopher Still told OPB9s
<Think Out Loud99 this week.
<I mean this is a new thing for
us to be seeing on Earth, so it9s
sort of a dubious milestone.99
Researchers like Still, with
help from citizen scientists,
have spent months document-
ing the heat wave9s effects on
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Oregon9s trees.
People submitted pictures
of ailing arbors to an online
database, which research-
ers used to help analyze the
damage. The images showed
deciduous trees with brown-
ing, crunchy leaves, and some
even looked like they were
melting, Still said. Conifer
needles turned bright orange
and in some cases fell off
entirely.
Most of the scorching hap-
pened on the south- and west-
facing sides of trees, which
endured the most intense sun-
light. Satellite images were
even able to pick up the burnt
edges.
Western hemlock and
western red cedar suffered the
worst damage. Younger trees
fared worse than older ones.
<There is going to be an
impact, I think, going for-
ward, if this young generation
had lots and lots of mortality,
which we think it did,99 Still
said. <The older trees, they9re
going to be more resilient, but
it9s a little bit hard to know if
you lose a bunch of your nee-
dles what that does to you.99
Toasted trees were already
stressed from the adverse
effects of extreme drought,
which in recent years has
contributed to tree declines.
Still said the combination of
drought and heat is a <knock-
out punch99 for trees.
Those effects are likely
to get worse as unchecked
burning of fossil fuels drives
climate change, which is
expected to lead to more
extreme heat events as well as
longer, more intense periods
of drought.
<If this just keeps going,
if these are happening every
five or 10 years, it9s gonna be
really grim I think for most
of the forests of the Pacific
Northwest,99 Still said.
“Reads & Roasts”
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SISTERS
FOREST PRODUCTS
...this is a new thing
for us to be seeing on
Earth, so it’s sort of a
dubious milestone.
— Christopher Still
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